POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7890, 4 June 1887, Page 2

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(Feosi Oue Special Cohbespondent )

Wellington, June 3. THE DEADLOCK ENDED.

The whole difficulty with, regard, to. the time for holding the election and the date of the meeting of the new Parliament ended in a fizzle: Negotiations between Major Atkinson and th« Premier were continued this morning, but no arrangement* was come to. At afull meeting of the Opposition the draft of a message in reply; to his Excellency's was agreed to, and as this fixed the date for the assembling of the new Parliament on Ist September an acrimonious debate was anticipated. However, this did not occur. Major Atkinson moved the address in a moderate speech, in which he s Sated that having gone carefully into the matter he was convinced the new House could meet by the 16th August. The Premier indicated how far he was prepared to go m meeting the views of the Opposition, and alter a few words from the Treasurer, Major Atkinson accepted the Premier's conditions; This settled the matter. The proposed amendments—namely, to suspend the' Mackenzie clause, and to make the time for dividing the colony into electorates one month—were introduced into the Council this evening, and passed without amendment. They will be considered by the House on Monday; and so end the deadlock. Regarding the fixing of the boundaries of the various electorates, the Premier to-night asked the House to consent to the nomination of the non-official members of the commission, under the Representation Bill. He theu nominated Dr Hislop, of Dunedin, Mr Dobson, M.I.C.E, Blenheim, and Colonel Haultain, Auckland. They will be asked to come to Wellington at once to commence the work. The remuneration has not yet been fixed.

THE PROROGATION. Now that the complications which arose ia connection with representation are in a fair way of being settled, it is expected the prorogation will take place on Tuesday. Of course if the opposition to the amendments of the Representation Bill which the Nelson and West Coast members threaten is carried out, the date of the prorogation will be later in the week. At present, however, it is believed that the amendments will pass the House on Monday afternoon^ and that all the other necessary business will be got through in the evening, so that very little but formal business will require to be transacted on Tuesday. Most of the members will leava late on Monday night. . . ...

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS.

The following bills were discharged from the Order Paper to-day -.—Women's Suffrage, Employers' Liability, Industrial Schools, Tongariro National Park, .Criminal Law and Procedure, Legislative Council Constitution, Coal Mines Amendment, Mining Act Amendment, Coroners Act Amendment; Regulation tit Elections Act Amendment, Pharmacy Act Amendment Act,and last; but not least, the Land Acquisition* Bill, so much talked of. .

PETITIONS.

The Premier to-day presented a petition from : residents and ratepayers in Opoho against the North Dunedin Cemetery Extension Bill. They allege that the cemetery extension would' destroy the native bush which forms an effectual separation and curtain from the cemetery, and as the cemetery could be extended in another direction, they are opposed to this. The Pubiic Petitions Committee, repotting on the petition of F. M. P. Brookfield; of Auckland, whose services as Native Land Court judge were dispensed "with on the ground of retrenchment, say that as the Government admit they had no fault to find with him, it"would have been better if they had not dispensed with his services on the ground of economy; alone whilst they still retain in office another gentleman whose appointment was comparatively recent. Thejr refer the petition to the Government for con* sideration. -

THE BARMAIDS,

The member for Duns tan is again coming forward :as a champion of the barmaids. On looking at the petitions which have been, poured in during the short sitting of the House against the employment of barmaids, he discovered that they cast imputations on the fair Hebes as a body. As this is against the rules of the House, Mr Pyke attempted to bring forward a motion to discharge the petitions from the House.

THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

The Public Works Statement (so called) was made by the Hon. Mr Richardson to;day. It - merely consisted of a running - comment on the figures contained in a table, which has been forwarded to you as a memo, by the Governs ment. The Minister was totally inaudible, go that it was impossible to' gather what he said M to the various matters. All that could be learned was that everything, with some small exceptions, was a re-vote; that is, that they merely continue the expenditure of the balances." The only Otago works specifically mentioned are Otago Central £187,000, and Seaward Bosh £2000. The tenders for the", Barewood bridges on the Otago Central are to be accepted as soon as received, for which £15,000 is put down. The platelaying on the Hihdon section, £3000, and the road from the railway to Hindon township, £3000, are down' as works that must be put in .hand before the 30th September or. other works will be delayed.

JOINT RABBIT NUISANCE COMMITTEE.

The Joint Rabbit Nuisance Committee have not had time to make an exhaustive report, and in view of the impending dissolution, Parliament have agreed to the following resolution:—, " That the Government be urged to continue to use every available means to check the spread of-the-rabbit nuisance, and so provide for an effective poisoning during the present winter months .on all infected lands, especially unoccupied Crown lands, and that sufficient funds be provided by Parliament for that purpose. •

LAND BOARD EXPENSES.

The return asked for" by Mr Holmes showing the details of the travelling expenses paid during the year to Messrs H.. Clark, J. C. Brown, and other members of the Land Board was laid on the table to-day. This return gives nothing new with regard to the Otago members, the expenses being due to inspecting land. For instance, Mr H. Clark received £60 6s 6d for travelling expenses and £33 odd for railway fare. His whole charge is £107 8s 3d. Mr J. C. Brown's details are very similar, excepting that he had 18 days' travellingallowanceat £2 when in every other instance the allowance was £1.

WELLINGTON GRIEVANCES.

Wellington has now a grievance against the Legislative Council, which has virtually shelved the University College Bill and the High Schools Reserves Amendment, and cut down .their Reclamation Bill to a: mere skeleton. There is a peculiar :- circumstance in connection with the High Schools Reserves Bill, and that-is t^at whereas the bill authorised the raising of £6000 by mortgage for the erection of a girls-high school, the Education Board have already entered into a contract to erect the school, which is rapidly approaching completion, and there are no funds now to pay for the building/ Regarding the University College Bill, the Post can find no other reason for its rejection than provincial jealousy. ■-.■.••.■;• ..'•,". ... ,7.! •;•;;;

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

The Midland railway occupied the attention of the House to-night for over two hours. Mr G. F. Richardson made an attempt to elicit infor* mation with regard to the position of the contract, but no direct answer was forthcoming and a battle royal ensued. Mr Pyke pressed" the mater of a proclamation having been placed over the best of the land, and a good deal of bandying of words took place over ths matter of the non-appearance of the revoking proclamation.' The Premier produced a Gazette: issued tonight containing the proclamation. This roused Mr S&idon, who was very outspoken about the rights of miners not being conserved.- : It- was elicited during the discussion that the contract has not yet been signed, but negotiations are proceeding. Ministers also assured the House that the contractors were not carrying on the work under a Government guaranteed

THE CABLE CHARGES.

In reply to the cablegram from Mr Pender dated London, 7th May, as to cable charges and subsidies, the Treasurer, according to a paper laid before the House to-day, has absolutely declined to recommend Parliament to renew the subsidy for the cable to Australia, though he says he will enable the subject to be discussed.

A STRANGE PROCEDURE,

The Otago Harbour Board have been much exercised over a strange proceeding on the part of the Port Chalmers Corporation. During the past few •days the latter body have been engaged in boring for the foundations of a new building on the site on which the Harbour Board offices stand. Unable to gueRS the authority for this proceeding, Mr Ross, the chairman of the Harbour Board, was communicated with. On making inquirk-s he found that the authority was dirived from an innocent-looking measure passed kst year, entitled the Port Chalmers Fire Brigade Act. This act provides that the corporation may borrow money, giving section 407 as security, to erect buildings on section 408. When this act was passed only a few are believed to have had the slightest idea of the effect of the measure; at least the Otago Harbour Board, the body most concernec), had not the least. Mr Ross, in a telegram to the board, has no hesitation in terming it "infamouslegislation."

THE REPRESENTATION BILL,

Contrary to expectation, the amendments to the Representation Bill came on before. the House this evening after the supper adjournment, the discussion on the Public Revenues Bill being postponed to aliow of this. The move was no doubt an excellent one, because the members!, after the fling they had in the early part of the evening, were not disposed to enter on along debate. The consequence was that, after a protest from Messrs Levestani, Seddon, and O'Conor, the amendments were agreed to, and the representation difficulty is now a thing of the past, and the bill only awaits the Governor's assent to become law.

VILLAGE SPECIAL SETTLEMENTS.

The matter of the-Midland railway having been disposed of, a slight discussion took place on the Stock Conference. Some reference was made to the Wellington post office, and Me Bracken even brought up the question of a rifle range for Dunedin, so as to, make the discussion one of a more all-round character. All this was on the Public Revenues Bill in committee, but how it' was relevant ib was bard to say. The next matter to crop up was the village special settlements. The House lastjycar voted £5000 as an experiment; but;

$W. .^. ow fiQd that on= the strength of this vote liabilities to the extent of £65,000 had been coi - tracted. The Opposition wanted some explanation, and an assurance that this rate of expenditure should not be continued, and.Sir G. Grey actually charged Ministers with incurring the expenditure for electioneering,purposes, fhe Minister for Lands failing to make himself clear as to the past expenditure and his future intentions, the fremier came to the rescue. He contended that anyone who, looked at the regulations must have .seen that the £5000 voted would have been insufficient to do anything but to settle a few people on the land. He asked the. House to indicate how far they wished him to go in putting families oa the land, and beyond that they would not go. As to. the question^ how they were to meet the liabilities, the Premier said they had shadowed forth a measure in the Financial Statement which meant borrowing, but he contended "that their system was the only method of dealing with the unemployed. Nothing was done about the matter, and progress was reported without any progress having been made. The House will not meet again till Monday. MISCELLANEOUS. Mr Blake, the newly-elected member for Avon, took the oath and his seat. He was introduced by the Minister for Public Works and Mr Walker. Major Steward intends to ask the Minister for Public Works whether he will provide loading yards for sheep and cattle at Waimate, allo^r the monrng and evening trains to stop at Luck's crossing, and provide a level crossing on the Wai* mate branch line opposite the racecourse.